Watch Me Stand, Watch Me Run
by Mtbookworm
Summary: Crutchie was looking at the threshold of his apartment in the Bronx. The one that in a few days he was supposed to carry his wife through. A shamelessly fluffy peace full of copious amounts or Crutchie and Jack/Crutchie friendship. Please enjoy.


**I think I am more proud of this story than anything I have ever written. This if for the Newsies Pape Selling Competition and my prompts were**

 **Task: Write about a time when a character is unable to do something because of something about them or of something they have done in the past, and how they try their hardest to get to do this thing, then whether they succeed or not.**

 **Dialogue: I never wanted this to happen.**

 **Location: the Bronx**

 **Word count: 2837**

There it was, right in front of him. The current source of all his problems came from the three feet of wood in front of him.

It wasn't even three feet, it was more like two feet. Maybe two and a half. But that didn't those two and a half feet from causing him all kinds of stress.

Crutchie was looking at the threshold of his apartment in the Bronx. The one that in a few days he was supposed to carry his wife through.

And that scared the crap out if him.

It wasn't the getting married part that scared him, he was more excited then he had ever been about anything in his life.

He had meet Madeline Philipe a little over two years ago. He had still been a newsie back then. Well, a part time newsie. After Synder got arrested the refuge was under new management, and now that he was too old to be a newsie, he got a job there. He helped to make trouble kids lives better, instead of locking them away. But every now and then he would sell papers on the weekends, he and a bunch of the guys, for old times sake.

He had been selling his papes in Central Park and he had seen her there, sitting on a bench in pretty yellow dress with a sketchpad in her hands. He kept stealing glances at her, and he though he must have imagined it. When had only a few papes left and was about to close up shop, she walked over.

"One paper, please." She spoke with a voice like honey, with a lilt to, leading him to believe she wasn't from New York. She beautiful blond hair braided back on her head and clear brown eyes. He knew then and there that he could get lost in those eyes.

"Here you go, Miss." He doffed his head as he handed her the paper, which she gratefully accepted and handed him a nickel in response.

"That's too much for just one pape, Miss." He had said as he tried to place the nickel back in her hand but she refused.

"No, please. Keep it." She smiled at him, and then her smile faltered, as if she were nervous, and she walked away quickly. In a sudden burst if courage, or insanity, who knows which, he called after her.

"Wait!" He called and she turned back around while he scrambled to find something to say now that he had her attention.

"I saw you were drawing." He said, shooting out the first thing to come to his head.

"Yes, yes I was." She smiled. "Would you like to see some of them?" She asked and he barely managed to nod his head. She pulled her sketchpad out of her bag and offered it to him.

He opened the book and flipped through. The sketches were amazing. They were just as good as Jack's. There were drawings of buildings and flowers and even a few of people. There was one towards the back that made him stop.

"Is that...?" He trailed of showing her the picture in question. When she saw the picture he was looking at her face flushed with embarrassment. On the page in front of him was a sketch of, well, him. It showed him waving a paper over his head, with a smile on his face.

"Oh, I didn't mean for you to see that one." She fumbled with the words. "Its not even very good."

"Are you kidding? This is good. But, why draw me. There a lot of things that would be better to draw in the park then me." After he said said the flush mostly left her face and was replaced with a soft resolve.

"No, you where the only thing I saw worth drawing." And it's those words that stick with him now. Most people just glanced over him, and he didn't really mind. And the people who didn't glance over him looked at him with eyes full of pity. That was what he couldn't stand. And that was another thing that drew him to her that day. He saw no pity in her eyes. She, having barely known him, look at him with admiration, and it was that moment he thinks he feel in love with her.

And the rest went as these types of stories do. In a moment of unexpected courage he asked if he could walk her home. They walked through the streets of New York City that evening and just talked. He asked her about her life, and she had told him that her family had recently moved from a small town in France for a new life in America. He told her about how his life as a Newsie. They laughed and smile, and for that one moment everything about the world felt right.

When they got to her door that night, she thanked him for walking her home, smiled at him one last time, and then walked inside. Crutchie was left standing there on the doorstep, starring at the door, wondering what had just happened.

He walked back home in a daze that night, nearly bumping in to few people and things along the way. He realized now he couldn't make fun of Jack no more for the way he looked and acted when he was around Katherine. Even after having only known a girl for a few hours he was already sure he had that lopsided grin in his face. When he got back to the apartment he and Jack rented together he didn't know if he would be able to sleep, despite the fact it was late at night, he had never felt more awake. When he opened the door he saw that Jack was still awake, bent over some paper on the desk in the corner of the room, no doubt working on the political cartoons for next week's papers.

"Heya, Crutchie, where ya been? It's really late?" Jack looked up at him form the desk.

"Nowhere really." He said plopping down on the couch. Jack shook his head and walked over.

"That ain't the look of a fella that's been "nowhere". Let me guess, a girl?" He sat down and elbowed his friends.

"That obvious?"

"Oh, yeah. So tell me, what's her name."

Her name.

"Dammit."

He did eventually get her name.

Everyday that he could he waited in that same spot in the park hoping to see her again. Looking back on it now he thought it was pretty pathetic. She calls it romantic. So it was about two weeks later that he saw her there again. He didn't know whether he wanted to run or jump for joy. He settled for going up and talking to her.

Madeline. Madeline Phillipe. That was her name.

And he told her his Jacob.

And the rest, again, went as these stories due. The two promised to meet in the park one a week. And then once a week became twice a week. And then three times a week. And then when it finally got to the point where they where spending practically every day with each other he asked her if he court her. She said yes, much to his relief. They spent so much time together, and he learned every last wonderful thing about Madeline Phillipe, he was certain she was the only person he ever wanted to be with.

And that brought them today, with Crutchie, a week before his wedding, staring at the doorway he was supposed to carry his new wife over. And he was absolutely petrified.

There had been a point in there relationship where he had nearly called everything off, saying she deserved someone who could take care of her better than he could. She simply wrapped her arms around him and told him she was everything that she would ever need, that she didn't care about the crutch, that all she wanted was him. And at that moment he had believed her.

But now the doubt was back. He looked at the door and all he could feel was dread. And anger. He was angry at the world for making people like him feel useless. He was angry at his mother for drinking while she was pregnant with him, causing him to be born with a bum leg. He was angry with himself, for not being able to carry his wife across a damn threshold. He took off his hat and hurled it at the open doorway.

"Might wanna watch where you're throwing this." Crutchie looked up and he saw Jack leaning against the doorframe, holding Crutchie's hat in his hands. "What's got ya down pal? You're getting married in week. This should be the happiest time of your life, not the time where you throughing stuff around." Crutchie just looked up at him.

"Not in the mood, Jack." He said as he plopped down on the couch.

"Seriously, Crutchie what's wrong?" His friend asked as he sat down next to him.

"That's what wrong." Crutchie grumbled as he pointed to the doorway.

"Your doorway? What's wrong your doorway?"

"It's not the doorway, Jack. It's what I got to do in the doorway." He grumbled with his head in his hands.

"What do you got to do in the doorway?"

"I have to carry Madeline through the damn thing. And I cant cause I'm just stupid me with this stupid bum leg." As soon as the words left Crutchie's mouth Jack jerked his friend around to face him.

"Don't let me every here you call yourself stupid again, ya hear me? You ain't stupid. Never say that again, ya hear?" No response. "Ya hear?

"I hear." He replied faintly.

"Good. Now look at me Crutchie, look at me. This ain't your fault okay. That leg ain't your fault. You never asked for this to happen. I want you to say that with me, alright. Say that with me. I never wanted this to happen." Jack never broke eye contact with his friend.

"I never wanted this to happen." Crutchie repeated.

"No, ya didn't. But you are going make the best of it. What's with all this moupin' and poutin'? This ain't Crutchie. This is my Job. You're the optimist. It's okay if you cant carry her across a doorway."

"But how am I supposed to be able to take care of her if can't even get her across a doorway? What kind a man does that make me?"

"Crutchie, Madeline can take care of herself. All she needs you to do is love her. I know you can do that. And it don't make you any less of man if you can't carry her across a doorway." Jack put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"But what if I want to? What if I really want to carry her over it." Crutchie looked his best friend in the eyes. Jack could see the fear, but also the determination in his eyes.

"Than you will, and I am going to help you."

So that's what they did. For the next week while the wedding was being put underway, Jack and Crutchie spent every spare second they could in the apartment practicing. He couldn't put any wait on his bad leg, so they new if he was going to do it he was going to have to do it on one leg, so they started there.

They practiced balance. He would put his crutch away and they would move the furniture around and he would stand in the middle of the room on one leg, balancing himself for as long as he could. It took awhile, as well as a couple of near falls, but eventually they got to where Crutchie could balance won his good leg for five minutes. So they moved on the next step.

The other guys filled a big sack with rags and blankets until it was roughly Madeline's weight, and Crutchie practiced balancing with it. Crutchie had strong arms from working his crutch and carry large stacks of papers, but still it was hard to bear all the weight on one leg. This step took significantly longer, but eventually he got there too.

The last thing they did was the most important step, Crutchie carrying the sack over the doorway. He would hop on one leg across the doorway carrying the sack in his hands. This part took the longest. Two days before the wedding, Katherine walked in on their practice, wondering why her husband was spending every spare minute at Crutchie's. When she saw what they where doing she smiled, and asked if there was anything she could do to help.

So finally it was the big day of the wedding, and Crutchie, no, Jacob was standing in the alter of the church, with the priest on one side and Jack on the other, who else would he ask to be his best man other than his brother. He looked around the beautiful chapel and at all his friends in the pews, and was so unbelievably happy.

But nothing could compare to when he saw Madeline walk down the isle. He had never seen anyone more beautiful in his life. As he saw her walking towards him in he white gown, he realized how little that doorway actually meant. The only thing mattered to him was her. The woman who was soon to be his wife.

And there the two stood, before the priest, before their friends, before God as they vowed to be with one another forever. Halfway through the ceremony, after seeing the tears welling in his eyes where mirrored in her own, he reached out to wipe them away. They said their vows, and with shaky hand he placed a ring on her finger. And when the priest said he could kiss his wife, _his wife,_ he leaned forward and poured everything he had in to that kiss.

After the wedding everyone went to the traditional wedding brunch. It had been a small wedding so all the guest fit into a beautiful decorated lobby of the _New York Sun_ , since both David and Katherine worked there it was easy to get the paper to let them use the space.

He was lovely gathering, but Crutchie could never take his eyes of Madeline, as she talked and laughed with people, and as the two of them sat together at the head of the table. The only instant where Crutchie eyes left his wife was when Jack gave his best man speech.

"As most of you well know, other than my wife I don't have that much real family. The newsies where always my family, one in particular. Crutchie, or Jacob, I guess we have to call him that now that he is married, has been there for me for the longest time. He has never given up on me. This man is one of the kindest, most thoughtful, loyalist, bravest and most determined man I know. He would go to the ends of the earth for the people he cares about, and they would do the same for him. Madeline, he will always be there for you like his been there for me. To Madeline and Jacob, my brother."

And now here they were, the moment of truth. He had guided her up the stairs to his, their apartment, and he just opened the door. She was about to walk inside when he stopped her.

"What do you think you are doing?" he teased.

"Entering _our_ home." She smiled, but he shook his head.

"Not like that, you might trip." As he said that he put his crutch against the wall and he scooped his new wife into his arms, eliciting a giggle from her. Here goes nothing.

One foot.

Two feet.

Three fee… _rip._

The dress. They hadn't taken into account the long train of the dress. Right as they had made it through the threshold his foot caught her dress, and the two went down together. Madeline landed on top of him, and the two now laid face to face on the floor.

He was about to speak, to apologize, and to make sure she wasn't hurt, but she leaned down and kissed him before he could utter word.

And in that moment his leg didn't matter. With her in his arms, he felt like he could do anything.


End file.
